Water sealing shot container for shotshells



Jan. 24, 1967 E. A. RICKEY 3,299,

WATER SEALING SHOT CONTAINER FOR SHOTSHELLS Filed Dec; 17, 1964 FIG. I FIG. 2.

.w s k 1m LQ w WM .Pm 3 n uu 8. w A m m s F 1w H 1.! d H E y b n 00 Z y fz in, JJ ui 5, 4 mm J17 F 3,299,813 WATER SEALING SHOT CONTAINER FOR SHOTSHELLS Edward A. Rickey, Stratford, Conn., assignor to Remington Arms Company, Inc., Bridgeport, Conn., a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 17,1964, Ser. No. 419,242 1 Claim. (Cl. 102-42) This invention relates in general to shotshell cartridges and more specifically to an improved plastic wad de-' signed to prevent moisture which may have entered the shotshell through the mouth end of the shell from leaking past the plastic wad to the propellant powder.

The importance of keeping the propellant powder and priming mixture in a shotshell dry is well-known to shooters and need not be repeated in detail here. In addition to affecting the sensitivity of the explosives, the ballistics of a shotshell are affected by moisture depending on the amount of moisture present in the explosive mixture.

With the advent: of plastic shotshells, about the only Way that moisture can enter into a shotshell is through the front mouth end of the cartridge. Although plastic cartridge cases can be crirnped and spin-sealed to close off the opening at the intersection of the crimp folds (see the patent to Bayard et al., U.S. No. 3,055,302, filed April 15, 1960), there are many instances where it is not practical or possible to spin-seal the crimp, e.g., reloaders who do not have the necessary equipment. Thus, there can be a small opening at the top of a loaded shotshellthrough which varying amounts of moisture can enter into the shotshell.

If the currently produced plastic shot containers were dimensioned sufiiciently oversize to produce the high internal sidewall body pressures required to prevent water seepage past the containers, they would be difficult, if not impossible, to insert and properly seat in the shotshells, either by hand or with automatic loading equipment. These adversities are caused by the resulting air entrapment which occurs below the container within the shell when oversized shot containers are used. This entrapped air not only makes seating of the containers difficult due to container pop-ups after the seating force is removed, but the resulting air pocket formed above the powder, if such containers were to be force-loaded, could affect shell ballistics.

With the present invention, air entrapment is not a problem,-since the water sealing rings are so designed as, to allow air entrapped below the container during shell insertion to escape. This is made possible by the folding of the sealing rings as the container is inserted into the shell. This folding of the rings which is in a direction opposite to the direction in which the container is inserted also forms cupped barriers which prevent water which may have entered through the shell mouth closure from seeping down into the powder. This feature will protect the powder from water saturation and will maintain shell ballistics under the most adverse water conditions including complete water submersion of the shotshells.

Although the invention is disclosed and discussed in combination with a shot container, it should be obvious that the invention is applicable to any wad column where there is not sufiicient internal sidewall body pressure to prevent water from seeping past the wad column into the powder, e.g., a plastic cushioning wad of the type disclosed but without shot containing means attached.

The object of this invention is to provide a shotshell column having means thereon to prevent water from seeping into the propellant powder.

nited States Patent It is another object of this invention to provide a plastic wad for a shotshell having a continuous radially extending flange which permits trapped air to move past the flange in one direction and prevents water from moving past the flange in the opposite direction.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide a water sealing shot container for shotshells.

Other objects will appear in the accompanying specification and claims in which:

FIGURE 1 shows an elevational view of a shotshell incorporating the present invention;

FIGURE 2 shows a combination wad column-shot liner with the water sealing means thereon;

FIGURE 3 shows a modified combination wad column-shot liner with two water sealing rings;

FIGURE 4 shows a view taken on line 44 of FIG- URE 2; and

FIGURES shows an enlarged profile of the water sealing ring.

Referring to the drawings, FIGURE 1 shows an elongated tubular shotshell body or casing 10 preferably made of plastic, although paper, metal, or any other suitable material may also be used. A metal head 12 is attached to the lower end of the tubular casing by any well-known means and has a primer means 14 mounted therein. Basewad 16 provides the necessary protection to the metal head 12 from the explosive gases generated by the ignition of propellant powder means 18.

Adjacent to the propellant powder 18 and in abutting relationship therewith is a combination wad column-shot liner 20, made preferably of plastic. As can be seen from FIGURE 1, the combination wad 20 not only separates the shot charge 22 from the propellant powder 18 but also effectively contains and protects the shot from being deformed by rubbing against the bore of the gun barrel (not shown) during its explosively projected travel therethrough.

Combination wad 20 includes a first transverse imperforate wall 24 with a rearwardly-extending peripheral, continuous skirt or flange 26 which acts as a gas sealing means to prevent explosive gases from blowing past the plastic combination wad. Longitudinally spaced from the first transverse wall portion 24 is a second transverse wall portion 28 which underlies the shot charge 22. Integrally @formed with and connecting the two transverse wall portions 24 and 26 are a number of parallel wall portions 30 which extend chordwise through the entire cylindrical lower end portion of the combination wad to form cushioning means. The connecting wall portions 30 have sufficient strength to retain the desired wad shape under normal handling and loading conditions but have insufficient strength to maintain the explosive pressures caused by the firing of the shell.

A fuller explanation of the collapsing aspect of the combination wad is found in copending United States patent application Serial Number 228,818, filed by Donald S. Foote et al. on October 8, 1962, now Patent No. 3,217,648.

Integrally formed and extending forwardly of the second transverse wall portion 28 is a tubular shot containing portion 32 which can be formed either by a plurality of elongated wall segments 34 separated by slit means 36 or by a solid tubular portion having weakened portions thereon adapted to rupture upon being explosively projected from the gun barrel.

FIGURE 2 shows an exaggerated view of a water sealin-g ring 38 integrally formed with the one-piece combination wad 20. As can be seen [from FIGURE 3, it is also possible to use two sealing rings 38 to provide more positive sealing if it should be deemed necessary.

It can be seen that a preferred water sealing ring 38 is integrally molded as a continuous radially-extending flange around the periphery of the plastic wad 20 and includes a thickened portion 3 8a which tapers down to a substantially thinner end portion 3 8-12. The thinner end portion 38b is folded as shown in FIGURE 1 when the cylindrical plastic wad is inserted into the slightly larger tubular shotshell body casing. The engagement of the water sealing ring end portion 38b and the inner wall of the shotshell body casing when the plastic wad is inserted in the shotshell casing folds back the ring in a direction opposite to the direction of insertion to form a cupped barrier. This cupped barrier prevents any water which may have entered the shotshell through the shell closure 40 from leaking past the plastic wad and saturating the propellant powder and/ or the priming mixture.

At the same time, any air which is entrapped in the shotshell between the first transverse wall portion 24 and the propellant powder during the insertion of the plastic wad 2.0 into the shotshell casing 10 is permitted to force its way past the water sealing ring.

It must be appreciated that although the drawing shows and the specification discusses the water sealing ring to be thicker at the base portion and tapering to a thinner end portion, it may be advisable in certain circumstances to reverse this and have the sealing ring thinner at its base portion and tapering outwardly to have a thicker portion at its end. Moreover, the drawing shows two configurations of thicker base portions so that applicant does not intend to be limited to any specific configuration of water sealing ring.

The invention is applicable to any wad column which encounters the above deficiencies and is not limited to a combination shot container-cushioning wad. Moreover, a single water sealing ring can be used or a plurality of rings can be used. It is obvious that the invention is not intended to be limited to the details of construction shown in the drawing or explained in the specification but rather as defined in the claim.

What is claimed is:

In a shotshell having a tubular body casing having propellant means positioned at the head end thereof and a charge of shot pellets positioned at the mouth end thereof, the improvement comprising a combination wad column shot container, said combination wad column comprising a cushioning section at the rear thereof in direct engagement with said propellant means, gas sea-ling means at the rear of said cushioning section to prevent explosive gases from blowing past the cushioning section, a shot containing portion at the forward end of said combination wad column containing said shot charge therein and adapted to protect the shot pellets while being explosively projected through the associated gun barrel, water sealing means positioned to the rear of said shot containing portion on said wad column extending radialy therefrom to form at least one continuous ring around the periphery of the wad column, connecting means underlying said shot pellets, said connecting means being of water-tight construction so as to prevent any moisture within said shot containing portion of said combination wad to pass through the cushioning section in to the propellant means, said water sealing ring being sufficiently flexible to permit the ring to fold to form a cupped water barrier upon insertion of the plastic wad column into the tubular body casing.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,111,899 11/1963 Tiedemann 10295 X 3,217,648 11/ 196 5 Foote et al 102-42 3,221,658 12/1965 Devaux 10295 BENJAMIN A. BO'RCHELT, Prim'tary Examiner.

ROBERT F. STAHL, Examiner. 

